Sirens to sound for Atatürk
THE TRNC will pause to remember
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding President of the Republic of Turkey, on Thursday.
The day will mark exactly 84 years since Atatürk’s death. While an official programme of events for the day has yet to be released, it is expected that sirens will sound across the TRNC, as they do every year, at 9.05am, the time at which Atatürk passed away at the
Dolmabahçe Palace in İstanbul on November 10, 1938.
Senior politicians and military leaders are expected to lay wreathes and pay their respects at a ceremony to be held at the statue of Atatürk located at Girne Kapısı (Kyrenia Gate) on the northern edge of Lefkoşa’s old city in the morning. Atatürk will also be remembered with ceremonies at schools and other institutions.
THE 99th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey was celebrated and commemorated with ceremonies and events around North Cyprus last Saturday.
The events began with a series of wreath-laying ceremonies at the statues of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – who founded the Turkish Republic on October 29, 1923 – in Lefkoşa, Girne, Gazimağusa, Güzelyurt, Lefke, İskele, Akdoğan, Geçitkale and Mehmetçik.
The main ceremony was in Lefkoşa and was attended by President Ersin Tatar, Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, main opposition Republican
Turkish Party leader Tufan Erhürman, Turkish Ambassador to Lefkoşa Ali Murat Başçeri, ministers, MPs and senior military officials.
President Tatar wrote in the Atatürk Special Memorial Book that Turkish Cypriots are an “inseparable part” of the Turkish nation who are “proud to celebrate” the 99th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey “with great excitement and enthusiasm”.
He wrote that Turkish Cypriots have “implemented Atatürk’s principles and reforms” without being “subjected to any pressure or coercion”, and that “adopting your noble ideas has been one of the cornerstones of living in our own state as a free and sovereign people today”.
Ambassador Başçeri wrote in the Special Memorial Book that he was “honoured and humbled to be in your spiritual presence as the ambassador of our country to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.
He added that “we continue to protect the rights and interests of our country and our Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters through our strong and determined stance against any game desired to be played in the Eastern Mediterranean”.
The day also saw parades take place in Lefkoşa and other major towns. Two Turkish warships – the TCG Meltem and TCG Gelibolu – docked at the Girne Tourism Port and Gazimağusa Port respectively and were open to the public as part of the celebrations.
In the evening Ambassador Başçeri hosted a “Republic Day Reception” at his official residence at the Turkish Embassy in Lefkoşa, which was attended by hundreds of people.
Mr Başçeri gave a speech at the Republic Day reception – his last before leaving to take up a new diplomatic post – in which he said that Turkish Cypriots celebrate October 29 “as if it were their own national holiday”.
Following his speech, embassy official Hami Balcı then read out a Republic Day message to the guests from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.